Temple Emanu-El to Install New Rabbi

Temple Emanu-El will be installing a new rabbi on Friday, November 16 at 6:30 p.m.

Rabbi Greg E. Litcofsky will be installed as part of a weekend long celebration that will also kick-off the temple’s Listening Campaign, Building our Congregational Vision Together.  This special service, followed by a celebratory community oneg, will be lead by Rabbi Litcofsky and Cantor Sharon Brown-Levy. It will feature the adult choir Shir Libeinu and youth choir Shalom Singers. Rabbi Emeritus Peter Kasdan will also share in the celebration of Rabbi Litcofsky’s installation service. Senior Vice President, of the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ), Rabbi Jonah Pessner will install Rabbi Litcofsky, offering remarks and a blessing.

“Rabbi Litcofsky, in just the few short months that he has been a part of the Temple Emanu-El community, he has shared with us his many talents and gifts and is already making a lasting impact. We look forward to formally recognizing his arrival as part of our Temple Emanu-El family,” said Theresa Edelstein, temple president.

Rabbi Pesner, Senior Vice President of the Union for Reform Judaism, mentor and friend to Rabbi Litcofsky, will deliver the sermon at the installation service, which will be followed by remarks by Rabbi Litcofsky. Rabbi Pesner is the founding Chair of the Board of JOIN for Justice (the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network) and served as Chair of the Board of the Jewish Organizing Initiative (JOI).

“I am honored to be able to celebrate with my friend and colleague Rabbi Litcofsky as he is officially installed as Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of West Essex," said Rabbi Pesner.  "Through our years of friendship and the active leadership role that he has taken in the Reform Movement, I have learned first-hand how much passion and commitment Rabbi Litcofsky has for his rabbinate.  I have no doubt that that he will bring his warmth, compassion, and sense of Torah as he takes on this new mantle of leadership. The community is truly fortunate to have him as their new spiritual leader.”

Rabbi Litcofsky joined Temple Emanu-El in July 2012. He previously served as the associate rabbi of Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland, Massachusetts, alongside senior rabbi Neal Gold. An alumnus of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, Rabbi Litcofsky was recently named one of the “40@40” to commemorate the program’s 40th anniversary of Alexander Muss High School in Israel.   In addition he serves on the board of JOIN for Justice; HUC-JIR’s President’s Rabbinic Council and is a member of the Core Team for Just Congregations.  He currently resides in Livingston with his wife Rachel and two children.